I was driving an old beat up silver Ford van. My friend was sitting in the backseat wearing blue jeans, a white t-shirt and sandals. The middle row of seats had been pulled out long ago. We pulled up and parked in an empty small gravel parking lot on the side of a two-lane road […]
My past, O Lord, to your mercy; my present, to your love; my future, to your providence! — St. Padre Pio (via Video meliora…)
Maybe it was because it took me nearly forty years to finally come to faith (I joke that I am a little slow, kind of like the Israelites, because it took us forty years while it only took Jesus forty days!), or more likely that I manage on a good day to be open to […]
For a long period after getting serious about reading/praying the psalms, I would always pause a bit when they mentioned enemies. As far as I know, I do not have any personal enemies, at least not from my point of view. More importantly, as a Christian, Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount that […]
I know the following beautiful but frightening words written by Paula D’Arcy to be true in my head, but I am trying to learn them in my heart. I know that I have partially learned them, but my analytical side wants, but cannot give, a percentage. The percentage does not really matter anyway. I am […]
I recently heard Richard Rohr comment on another person’s research into the idea that the story you most remember or most identified with in your early childhood somehow shaped, or at least reflected, your personality. Furthermore, that story could have an effect in your style or approach to faith and spirituality. For example, Rohr said […]
In Your book were written all the days that were formed for me. — Psalm 139:16 You knew me before I was. You will still know me after I was. You know me now.
Just found out that my last surviving grandparent, my mom’s mom, died. Another link to my family history lost (for now). Mom passed away back in 1993 and there is hardly a day that goes by that I do not think of her. My wife left last night to take our oldest daughter to college […]
I was just telling my calculus students the other day, the first day of school, that a major difference between calculus and algebra is the way we view graphs of functions. In algebra, we tend to view a graph as a static picture. It just sits there. Oh look at that pretty graph of a […]
I had to tell a very dear friend a hard truth yesterday. I forced her into a position where she will receive professional help. She denied that she needed it. Suddenly a wall came crashing down around her heart, A wall of anger, shame, pain, broken trust. All the warmth and light in the room […]
Self-Pity has been whispering in my ear. He is sneaky, disguising his voice to be another, like a well-meaning friend, but false. He has been saying, “You’re tired Mark. You’re tired of falling. You’re tired of trying to get back up. You are just tired of it all. Feel the exhaustion in your bones, in […]